Flour sifter



Nov. 30, 1954 E. L. DENNIS 2,695,708

FLOUR SIF'TER Filed Nov. 19, 1949 .E. Lucia-n Den-m's United StatesPatent FLOUR SIFTER E. Lucian Dennis, Rockford, Ill., assignor to TheWashburn Company, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of MassachusettsApplication November 19, 1949, Serial No. 128,280

1 Claim. (Cl. 209-357) This invention relates to flour sitters, and ismore particularly concerned with providing a small sifter ofapproximately single cup or cup and one-half capacity, which is betteradapted for a large variety of cookie and pastry baking operations thanthe present large capacity si ters.

The salient feature of the small simplified sifter of my invention isthe provision of a thumb grip recess on one side of the body of thesifter and a spring restrained trigger pivoted on the diametricallyopposite side and connected to the rotary agitator, the sifter beingsmall enough to enable grasping it between the thumb and fingers of onehand and operating the same entirely by finger pressure as the hand isclosed more or less on the body of the sifter.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig.1 is a plan view of a sifter made in accordance with my invention andillustrating how the same is adapted to be grasped and operated betweenthe thumb and fingers of one hand, either right or left as the operatorprefers, and

Fig. 2 is a side view of the sifter with a portion thereof broken awayand shown in section, to better illustrate the construction.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in thesetwo views.

The reference numeral 3 designates the substantially cylindrical sheetmetal container or body for the sifter, in the bottom of which ismounted a wire screen 4 for sifting purposes. A spider-shaped agitator 5is pivoted centrally on a rivet 6 relative to the screen 4, and isarranged to be oscillated by means of a wire link 7 that extends througha hole 8 provided in the wall of the container 3 just above the screen4, and has one end pivotally connected at 9 to the lower end of atrigger 10, and has the other end pivotally connected by means of arivet 11 to one arm of the agitator 5 in radially spaced relation to therivet 6. The trigger is of elongated form and profiled on its outerside, as indicated at 12, and preferably also formed with a spurprojection 13 to provide a non-slip finger grip, so that the sifter canbe held securely between the thumb, indicated at A, and the first threefingers, indicated at B, C, and D, the thumb entering a recess 14provided therefor in the side wall of the container 3 diametricallyopposite the profiled portion 1213 of the trigger 10. The trigger ishinged at its upper end to the top rim 15 of the container 3, asindicated at 16, and a grasshopper type wire spring 17 is providedbetween the container and the trigger normally urging the latteroutwardly, one leg 18 of the spring 17 being soldered or welded to thewall of the container 3, as at 19, and the other leg 20 of the springbeing suitably anchored in a recess 21 provided therefor in the adjacentside of the trigger 10. The wire link 7 has a stop projection 22provided thereon intermediate its ends arranged to engage the wall ofcontainer 3 to limit return movement of trigger 10 under action ofspring 17.

2,695,708 Patented Nov. 30, 1954 The flour to be sifted is either pouredinto the container 3, or dipped by means of the container from the bag,and the sifter is operated, as indicated above, by grasping the samebetween the thumb and fingers of the one hand and exerting pressure onthe trigger 10 in a direction to close the fingers more or less on thesifter. The spring 17 returns the trigger 10 as the hand is opened moreor less after each movement of the agitator 5, and, hence, the operatorkeeps a good hold on the sifter and is not at all apt to drop itregardless of whatever flour she may have on her fingers. The thumbdepression 14 and the profiling of the trigger 10, at 12, plus theprovision of the spur projection 13 together afford a reasonably securegrip and yet one which permits picking up and setting down the sifterquickly whenever there is need for a little flour in the course of thehandling of the cookie or pastry dough. The sifter, therefore, takes upless space on the table, which is often at a premium during suchoperations, and the fact that the sifter can be operated with one handleaves the other hand free for various other purposes, and in that waythe operation is more efficient and takes less time and there is lessfatigue. Furthermore, a sifter of this type will fit inside thecontainers of the conventional large sifters, or can even be kept in adrawer in the kitchen cabinet, and, in either event, takes up much lessroom than the other kinds. Also, due to the small amount of materialinvolved in its construction and the few parts required, it can beproduced at a fraction of the cost. of other sifters.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claim has beendrawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

In a sifter of the class described, an open top upright container, saidcontainer being provided with a bottom sifter element and the outer wallof said container above the bottom thereof being provided with adepression for engagement by the thumb, an agitator movable in saidcontainer relative to the top surface of said sifter element, anoscillatable lever pivotally connected at the upper end thereof directlyto the wall of said container at the top of said container at a pointdiametrically opposite the location of said thumb engaging depression,the outer surface of said lever being provided with a spur projection,means operatively connecting the lower end of said lever with saidagitator to effect motion of said agitator as said lever is actuated,and spring means disposed between the wall of said container and leverfor urging said lever outwardly from said container, whereby saidcontainer and oscillatory lever are adapted to be held between theoutstretched thumb and fingers respectively of the operators hand withthe thumb engaging said depression and fingers engaging said lever atopposite sides of said spur projection for actuation of said lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 54,679 Bucknam May 15, 1866 983,398 Omberg Feb. 7, 19111,011,822 Lehrmann Dec. 12, 1911 1,488,306 Adams Mar. 25, 1924 2,314,186Zuck Mar. 16, 1943 2,416,810 Bailey Mar. 4, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 27,968 Sweden Jan. 4, 1910 944,771 France Nov. 8, 1948

